Are vintage speakers really that good?

Royy, apart from the fact that Sean speaks for me too -- better than I would have done -- the speakers listed are the Tannoy GRF & the JBL 4311!

The 4311 is a 3-way control speaker used in professional applications. The other pair is a legendary model from Tannoy. Not just *any* vintage product of the discount variety...!

My a/d/s 810s and 710s can sound fantastic and beat lots of speakers in the proper set up. The newer high end speakers from Aerial or ProAc for example that I have are much better but at a super notch up in price.

My Thiel CS3.6's are currently in for some repairs (still trying to figure out the culprit on that one), so I moved my recently acquired vintage AR-2ax's and Large Advents upstairs to fill in while the Thiels were down. Just for kicks, I stacked the AR-2ax's on top of the Advents, and let me tell you this setup does not sound bad at all, especially once you dial in the mid's and hi's on the AR-2ax. Granted, they don't compare to my CS3.6's, but considering their age and the price that they sold for new, they are quite impressive. Both are Henry Kloss designs, and I prefer the more natural mids of the AR-2ax (which is a 3-way design) versus the two-way Large Advents, but the Advents have a slight advantage in the low end.

If you want to hear more from people who love their vintage speakers, check out the Classic Speaker Pages at http://arsenal.net/speakers/index.htm.

Tom.

I used the 4311's in the studio when they were new. They are probable the last good JBL's made. But still, there are even older , better speakers.

The vintage drivers can be good sounding. The only problem with the vintage speakers are the cabinets. Many folks bought these drivers and build them with good cabinets and they can be as good sounding as a $5K to $10K speakers.